The Prince Albert Thunder kicked off their first tournament Thursday night at Carlton. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

For Victor

New basketball club adopts its name from late local champion

Apr 7, 2022 | 9:36 PM

The newly formed basketball club in Prince Albert had a great reason to make “Thunder” its team name. And it wasn’t to have another nature-related name to go along with the other club in town in the Prince Albert Lakers, or to have a great excuse to play AC/DC’s Thunderstruck as a pre-game pump-up song.

The name is a tribute to the late Victor Thunderchild, the well-respected teacher and student counsellor who died almost a year ago from COVID-19.

The Thunder are holding their first tournament from Thursday to Sunday at Carlton Comprehensive High School, where Thunderchild used to work, teach, advise, and keep the Cree language alive—among many other things for close to three decades.

“As a whole, he was an amazing man. He was a champion of the underdog and was always willing to help others out, no matter what it meant. He always wanted to give back to the community, and lift others up. That’s something we want to instill in our athletes,” said Adie Schenk, one of the club’s founders and coach of the U17 girls’ Thunder.

“He was very cognizant of being a role model to everybody, particularly Indigenous people and Indigenous athletes,” Schenk added. “I know that was big for him and huge for us to carry on that flame in memory and in honour of him.”

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The Prince Albert Thunder kicked off their first tournament Thursday night at Carlton. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

As Thunderchild was willing to help anybody, anybody can join the club that has adopted his name.

“This will be a super-inclusive club,” Schenk said. “Anybody who basically has a pair of shoes and wants to play basketball, we are doing whatever we can to help them find a spot to play and come out and be a part of the team.”

Schenk said Thunderchild loved all sports and loved seeing athletes succeed, especially those that overcame obstacles or exceeded expectations.

The club has teams from U11 to U17, in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions. After this weekend’s large 30-game tournament, the Thunder will play a pair of tournaments in May, a tournament in Saskatoon before the club provincials in Lloydminster.

”We have a great number of kids who are involved. All of our kids will be around this weekend supporting each other, scorekeeping, and minor officiating. It will be a great weekend,” Schenk said. “This will be the biggest club basketball tournament that P.A. will have seen, so we’re really excited to kick the club basketball season off in this way.”

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW